[jechen]

I think it's important to keep in mind that Elon Musk got to where he is today (especially financially) because of a consumer web service he helped found. I'm sure (perhaps on the more optimistic end) that more entrepreneurs would jump on his bandwagon if they had ready/easier access to the amount of capital Musk had at his disposal to invest in his "cool sci-fi shit" ventures.

[kiba]

What he was working on is a financial service, not just a consumer web app. He changed the world by making payment and ecommerce easier. It may not be sci-fi or anything like, but what he was doing was of importance.

[rollo_tommasi]

Right, but he didn't jump right into future-tech industries; he had a huge pool of personal capital to draw on, and only himself to answer to in using it. The point the parent is trying to make is that there are probably a lot of people working in less glamorous businesses who would love to jump to working on the cutting-edge, but they don't have access to hundreds of millions in personal funds.

[pdubs]

Paypal was pretty revolutionary for its time. Not quite "cool sci-fi shit", but close, in perspective.

[jechen]

Its initial concept of beaming money with Palm Pilots certainly was. What it eventually pivoted and grew into was less so, but I do agree that PayPal played an important role in the evolution of web technologies.

My point remains that we shouldn't be so quick to judge the altruistic intentions of entrepreneurs based on their first ventures; it may be a means to a more noble end. I'm sure many, if not most, aspire to contribute more to society beyond photo sharing apps. In fact, PayPal was voted one of the worst companies when it debuted, so I'm willing to give everyone the benefit of doubt.